Two Newcomers To Politics Make Run for State Office

Tuesday

Oct 9, 2012 at 9:06 PM

For about a week, Democrat Eileen Game was the only remaining candidate in the race for Florida House District 42. That was before Sept. 29 when the state Republican leadership filled the spot vacated by state Rep. Mike Horner with political newcomer Michael La Rosa of Celebration.

By PHIL ATTINGERLEDGER MEDIA GROUP

LAKE WALES | For about a week, Democrat Eileen Game was the only remaining candidate in the race for Florida House District 42.

That was before Sept. 29 when the state Republican leadership filled the spot vacated by state Rep. Mike Horner with political newcomer Michael La Rosa of Celebration.

Now the race is between two fresh faces to Florida politics, each small business owners with their own perspectives on the economic troubles of Central Florida.

La Rosa's name will not be on the ballot, but Mike Horner's name will be. Voters will need to remember that a vote for "Horner" will actually go to La Rosa.

Horner, a Republican from Kissimmee, was reportedly on a client list at an Orlando brothel. He resigned from the Florida House on Sept. 24 and withdrew from his re-election campaign after the brothel connection was made public.

La Rosa, 30, said the last four years have had him making tough spending cuts as a real estate developer.

"We were on the front line of an industry where the bottom fell out," La Rosa said about his family's business.

At one point in 2010, he said, La Rosa Development had only 38 agents and was facing the possibility of closing.

Instead, the company changed its focus and offered properties tailored to small, mobile businesses.

In two years, he said, the company has expanded to more than 350 agents throughout Florida.

He wants to apply that experience for small business in the Florida Legislature, which he said "has not been there for us."

Property taxes, tolls and other fees have gone up, he said, while state-level spending has stayed the same.

As a result, people strained by unemployment or taxes must either sell their homes and businesses, or accept foreclosure.

Game, 57, a software developer since 1996 under the company name Axtin, was in the midst of selling business management software packages in 2008 to small businesses — especially those in real estate, development and construction.

When the bottom fell out of the construction market, so did her business, she said.

To make matters worse, she had financed the software package in 2007 through credit cards — since no loans were available — not unlike most small businesses, she said.

She already had a $100,000 mortgage, so she got a job with another company for six months, and was laid off after six months.

With nothing coming in for 2½ years, she had to declare bankruptcy on a total $300,000 debt, she said.

"I had savings and retirement, and I walked away with nothing," Game said.

She was optimistic that the economy would turn around, but now thinks the experience would qualify her to know the troubles of small business owners in this economy.

La Rosa, she said, doesn't know what it's like to "feel the pinch" because his business was a partnership with family who were already successful and could help carry the load.

In contrast, she said, she was the one her extended family often turned to for support.

"I came from a dirt-poor family," said Game, who grew up on a rural farm in Falmouth, Ky. "I worked to keep the electric on as a kid."

She now lives in Avon Park, but is planning to move to Frostproof, if elected.

Her family owns 20 acres on the Polk-Highlands County line, where she has a 30-head herd of goats, raised for their meat, she said.

They've been in the area since 2001 and have supported local arts and culture, she said.

Game holds a Bachelor's degree in computer science from Thomas More College in Fort Mitchell, Ky., and a master's in business administration, focused on industrial management, from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Prior to being self-employed, she worked as an executive for such firms as Ernst & Young and Grant Thornton.

For her campaign, she has to-date received $6,090 in contributions and has a $10,300 loan. She has spent $13,568 on her campaign.

La Rosa, who formally announced his campaign on Oct. 1 in Lake Wales, has not yet made a financial report to the Florida Department of State, Division of Elections.

La Rosa was born in South Florida, and his family moved in 1997 to Central Florida when he was 15.

They "fell in love" with Central Florida, and he has been in Osceola County ever since, he said.

After he graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2004, La Rosa and his brother, Joe, started La Rosa Realty LLC.

He and his wife, Holly — his high school sweetheart — have three boys.

The legislative post pays $29,687 per year. State representatives serve two-year terms, with a limit of four terms.